We were in a group meeting when the email came in telling us to cease physical gatherings and avoid all face to face contact. It was like a movie.
Everyone was advised to observe social distancing and given the freedom to travel back home as the university was shut for physical lectures. This memory you see is the last picture is captured by my classmates before we hugged, and said goodbyes. I don't know if I will ever see some of them again or what would have happened differently if things didn't change so abruptly.
It felt like the beginning of a tragic story but little did I know that I would unravel the beauty and treasures in this lockdown.
If you are wondering what my opening sentence is all about than listen. I am an international student from Nigeria, studying for a master's degree in Environmental Engineering in the United kingdom.
The first few weeks of lockdown were awkward and full of fear and uncertainty.
I had booked a flight back home to Nigeria, but it ended up being cancelled. So I spent most of my time alone sitting beside the window hoping that someone would pass by.
At least one person , but there was no one in sight. People had retracted into their home, making zero contact with those outside their homes from the fear of that small virus. When you are not at home at an uncertain time than there is an unexplainable feeling that comes over you which no one else may understand. My mind was constantly alert, I dreamt about the virus for days, I checked the statistics and worried as the numbers kept rising.
Productivity was not a substitute for loneliness, thus I was unable to focus on my project work. I had to learn this new way of living and learning without seeing people, visiting friends, eating fast food or actually speaking and communicating with my team.
I occupied my time with journaling the lockdown experience.
So everyday I wrote something I was grateful for and shared it on social media. I also drew up a routine that involved exercising, yoga and taking daily walks alone through the woods. It was in this time that my soul married nature.
On these daily walks, my mind calmed, the world went silent, no schedules and appointments to meet up with, no emails to respond to......here in the silence of the world I began to notice everything.
From the orange hue of sunset, the dark slippery slugs and fat bumble bees to the deep colors of the beautiful flowers dancing gingerly in spring.
The names and memorials on the signs in the park which I never even saw before the lockdown.
The amazing sunny weather, the fullness of the moon, the white, pink and red cherry blossom trees lined up in an array about the campus.
A family of ducks beside the lake , a deer crossing the road, a pigeon nesting an egg till it hatched, the crows sitting beside my window.
The totality of nature's beauty.
The lockdown opened my eyes to see the world more clearly.....nothing else could have made the whole world stop and notice all the love and beauty that we are surrounded by.
The lockdown is gradually relaxing, my studies are positively progressing and I am still learning how to live this new life. To stand 6 feet away from the person in the drug store and not hug people when I see them after a long time.
As I am learning, I am beginning to appreciate the little things around me.
I am deeply grateful to have survived a pandemic.